Friday, August 20, 2010

Walking Driving Around the Country to Pick up Hay Bales

** To learn how round bales are made, click here to visit my friend's story over at Alarm Clock Wars!

Last night Tall Guy asked me: Got anything going on tomorrow?

Me: Nah, I said, just laundry, picking up the house, making goodies for soccer on Saturday, updating my blog and a couple more things....

Tall Guy: Well could you help me pick up hay bales tomorrow?

Me: Sure Honey, No problem!

Cut to today. See Tink and Bear off to school, take my two mile walk with Sadie. Oh! Did I mention that I have been up since 3:30 for about the third night in a row. The "M" word is really messing with my sleep again! GRRRRRRR! But I'm off topic....Ok I start to pull out in the truck with the hay wagon contraption that you will see later. Just about picked off Uncle D! DANG! Here he is. I got to follow him ALL the way down the mile and a half road. There's a good story about Uncle D and crew in my Long Walks/Talks section.

These two homes above and below belong to two of Tall Guys cousins. We have our very own family road, kind of!

This is a brand new water way~! Do you know about them? It's one way farmers conserve soil and protect the ground we farm. I will tell you more about this in another post, but we bale the grasses in these waterways when it is ok to do.

Farmers don't do too many things in a big hurry, and driving trucks that pull things is one of those slow things!

Note, I am also in a lower gear so I don't have to "ride" my breaks all the time.

Now I am eating Tall Guy's dust. We are almost to our first field! Do you know this is the first time all year we have been able to cut hay? The weather has been just too wet and humid to get it done. It takes three good dry days to cut hay, rake it, and let it dry enough to bale.

Ok, There goes Tall Guy! I am headed down to one of the windmill roads to get out there with the truck and trailer. See these windmills are everywhere and very useful!

This is a baled water way. We don't farm them because they tend to be too wet to farm. Believe it or not, my county has no body of water larger than a creek, or "crick" as I like to say, BUT we were at a LEVEL 3 Emergency this summer will all main roads covered in water and impassible! These water ways can become rivers during the big 3-4 inch rains we tend to have at least once a summer!

Time to start loading and put the truck into 4-Wheel Drive. DANG! Can I get a Yee Haw?

Below is what I am pulling to carry home the large round bales. Tall Guy and his dad made this (TG's dad loves to weld and is pretty darned good at it!) I'll show you how it works in just a minute.

Basically a bale goes on either side of that short middle bar. We use forks attached to a utility tractor to pick up the bale, and the bars coming at you help guide the fork and bale in to the right place.

Another purty picture

Doesn't this remind you of Dr. Doolittle's Push-me Pull-you? Here we go!

Up and centered.....

Then down it goes!

I carry SIX of these puppies home at one time, plus the two Tall Guy brings with him! Wouldn't you know there were NINE bales at this place, so he had to go back for the last one. I had to keep my eye on this bale in my rear-view mirror. See how it is leaning? I swore it wouldn't make it home, but it did. I have "dropped" a bale or two in the past, but the ground is less that level, and these things are, well, ROUND!

There we are home with the first group. See that truck out back by the bins? That's yet another project going on here at the farm. We are putting in a new drying system. I will tell you about that in another blog too! Dang! I'm going to have a lot of blogging to do about this place!

Tall Guy stored this first group and some of the next in this barn, right out where we feed our cattle.

See how the forks go on either side of the bars to slide under and pick up the bale?

Works slick as a whistle!

Everyone loves a parade! The horses above are miniatures with a donkey or two mixed in, and below are a few of our future freezer guests! Anyone need any beef?

So I realize that I neglected to include a picture of all the bales lined up all ready for winter chewing for this crew or rather the new crew to come. Dang! It's too hot to do it now, so I will include it in the farm tour I am planning for next week. Everyone have a great weekend! Tink and Bear have their first soccer games tomorrow, and I need to scoot and make snacks for Tink's team. I think we will have some hamburger tonight, compliments of those bovine who used to peek through the siding! Toodles!

Oh the joys of farming.... Since I know NUTTIN about faming, I guess I'm a 'city' gal--although I grew up in a small down... I do so enjoy learning about all of the things you all do... Looks like that is a perfect 'trailer' to haul that hay back to the barn... Glad you were such a GREAT help to hubby....

Lana you did a good job hauling those bales homeThey can be tricky I have only hauled them in the field someone took over when we hit the highway. You can run fast with the way they are balanced I take a Benadryl every night and it buys me several hours of sleep. Worth trying ask you Dr.

I absolutely love to read your blog and look at your photos. It is beautiful where you live...I wish we had some of those windmills around here for power! I also will have to show my husband your "hay trailer". We haul ours on a flatbed, and you know what happens when you put round bales of hay on a moving flat surface.....One nervous person! We strap them down, but still......I am so nervous! Have a great weekend!

Love the post! Especially love the part where you have "nothing" going on....except laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. Isn't it funny how our definition of "nothing" is completely different from others??